


Lies + Injuries

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Series: MacGyver Episode Tags [10]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: 2x21, Episode Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I am probably exaggerating Macs injuries a bit, Mostly Fluff, Team as Family, a bit of h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 13:03:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14449845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: This is just a little mostly fluffy tag to 2x21 where Jack finds out that Mac got thrown around in the bank.





	Lies + Injuries

When the shot rang out, Mac froze and reflexively put his hands to his torso. He turned around and saw that he wasn’t the one who’d gotten shot. To his amazement, he saw Jack hanging out of the driver side window of a still moving vehicle, his gun pointed in Mac’s direction. 

Mac would never stop being impressed by Jack’s shooting skills. He’d once again saved Mac’s life by taking a near impossible shot. Mac watched as the truck careened to a stop and Jack hopped out, followed quickly by Riley and Bozer. Mac smiled as he made his way to his friends, relief flooding his system. 

Unfortunately, with the relief, came the pain. Now that he was safe and didn’t have as much adrenaline coursing through him, Mac began to feel the aches and pains of the beating he’d received. His ribs, in particular, protested as he climbed over the fallen tree to get to his team.

“You are one crazy person,” Jack said, shaking his head at Mac when he got closer. Mac grinned and held out his fist. Still pointing a gun at the bad guys who were currently being secured by the Puerto Rico police and Bozer and Riley, Jack held out his other hand and fist-bumped Mac.

“Thanks for the save,” Mac said.

“Anytime brother,” Jack said, and then he glanced at the bad guys’ smashed car. “But please tell me your plan wasn’t just to wreck the car and then run.”

“Uh,” Mac said, his response giving Jack all of the explanation he needed.

“Typical,” Jack said. With the bad guys secure, Jack holstered his gun and turned his full attention to Mac. He looked Mac up and down, his gaze settling on Mac’s left cheekbone. Based on the way that area was throbbing, Mac suspected he had the beginnings of a nice looking bruise. “You okay?” Jack asked as he checked Mac over for injuries once again.

“Yeah, I’m totally fine. This is just a result of me letting three hostages go,” Mac said, keeping his voice and expression neutral. There was no need to tell Jack that he’d gotten more than just one punch for that. Or tell Jack about his steadily growing headache or the way his ribs ached whenever he breathed. These things were nothing that Mac hadn’t handled before, and telling Jack about them would just cause him to worry.

“You sure? Because I know firsthand that you make a terrible hostage. He didn’t give you more than that?” Jack asked, gesturing to Mac’s cheek.

“He was more concerned with using me to help escape,” Mac said, and then quickly changed the subject before Jack could ask any more questions. “How’s Carlos?”

“He’s good. He had surgery to repair the damage to his muscle, but it went well and he’s resting now. I told the doctor to call me as soon as he woke up,” Jack responded.

“Thanks, Jack,” Mac said, a weight lifting off of his shoulders. He’d seen enough gunshot wounds to know that Carlos was going to be fine, but that still hadn’t stopped him from worrying about his friend. Carlos had always had his back and Mac wished that he could've made it to the bank sooner.

“Mac!” Bozer said as he and Riley walked over. Bozer pulled Mac into a tight hug and Mac buried his face into his friend's shoulder to keep Jack from seeing the pain that the hug caused. “Please try to avoid volunteering to get taken in as a hostage in the future. You had us worried there, man.” Bozer said when he pulled away.

“Yeah, especially Jack. I think he does even worse without you than you do without him,” Riley said, putting a hand on Mac’s shoulder and smiling up at him. Mac returned her smile and then looked at Jack.

“Oh yeah? Were you worried, old man?” Mac asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, no, I was not worried. I was simply trying to figure out what plan you were gonna cook up in that freaky brain of yours,” Jack said, waving his hand at Mac’s pounding head.

“And did you succeed?” Mac asked curiously.

“No, Mac, I did not guess that you were gonna help the bad guys escape and then end up as their only hostage.”

“Yeah, well, to be fair, that last thing wasn’t a part of the plan,” Mac said as he started to pick his way towards Carlos’ truck.

“And where do you think you’re goin’?” Jack called.

“To the hospital, I want to be there when Carlos wakes up,” Mac responded, not bothering to turn around.

“ Jack, you take Mac, Bozer and I can wait here for the police to finish up and then meet you at the hospital. We will also call Matty and fill her in,” Riley said.

In truth, Mac had forgotten all about the bank robbers. His pain, plus the energy he was using to hide his pain, was making it difficult to think.

“Sounds good,” Jack said, handing his gun to Bozer. “Let’s go”

*****

Jack tried to keep his voice calm as he asked, “So, what exactly happened in there?” He glanced at Mac, who was staring out of the window. Jack was dying to know how Mac had managed to free hostages, get himself punched, break robbers out of a bank, and then held hostage for real.

“They let me treat Carlos’ gunshot wound. Then they took him down to the vault. They only left one guy to guard the hostages, so I distracted him and snuck out the three hostages,” Mac said. Jack was tempted to ask him how he distracted the guard, but he probably wouldn’t understand Mac’s explanation, so he didn't bother.

“And when the boss man got back he figured out what had happened and punched you,” Jack said, filling in the information that he knew. He looked at Mac again, the red mark on his cheek stood out against his pale skin. The sight of it made Jack want to turn around and shoot the guy all over again.

“Yes, but then I convinced him to let me help them escape in exchange for them leaving all of the hostages behind. I couldn’t see another way to ensure the safety of the hostages. Apparently, I wasn’t specific enough about me being included in the hostages left behind. The boss decided I would be useful,” Mac said with a dry chuckle.

“Yeah, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you are too smart for your own good, man,” Jack said.

They made the rest of the short trip in relative silence. Jack wasn’t sure if Mac’s quietness was due to his worry for Carlos, or if there was something else behind it. Jack thought that maybe the punch to his head was hard enough to cause a headache, those usually caused Mac to not be very talkative. Jack decided to get a nurse to check on Mac just to be safe.

They entered the hospital and Mac made a beeline to the first doctor he saw to ask which room Carlos was in. Jack didn’t bother trying to stop him as Mac made his way to the direction the doctor pointed. Jack knew that there was no way that Mac would get checked out before he knew Carlos was okay.

They made it to Carlos’ room, and Jack heard Mac breath a sigh of relief when he saw that Carlos was still sleeping. Mac dropped into the seat next to Carlos’ bed while Jack leaned against the wall. Mac’s gaze scanned over his friend and then up at the monitors.

“He looks okay,” Mac said finally.

“He is, thanks to you,” Jack assured him. Mac relaxed back into his chair slightly but still kept his eyes on Carlos. “So, Carlos was telling me about how you two met. Did you really sass your training Sergeant?” Jack asked, wanting to pass the time and help ease the worry he could still see in Mac’s eyes.

“I wish I could tell you that he was exaggerating...but he probably wasn’t,” Mac said, looking at Jack in amusement.

“Man, you were a terrible soldier, did you ever just shut up and follow orders?” Jack asked with a laugh.

“The ones that made sense,” Mac shot back. Jack wanted to tell him that it was a soldier’s duty to follow orders, no matter what, but he knew that Mac would never accept that. Mac followed his gut, it was something that made him a great operative, but it hadn’t done him any favors in the army.

“Well, I’m glad that you had people watching your back before I came around,” Jack said.

“Carlos definitely did that,” Mac said, his gaze shifting back to his army buddy. Jack was going to respond, but he stopped when he saw that Carlos was stirring. Carlos woke up slowly, blinking several times and then looking groggily around the room until his gaze fell on Mac.

“Mac?”

“Hey, man, how you doing?” Mac asked with a smile.

“Tired…” Carlos said. He looked around the room and seemed to realize where he was. With a grimace, he looked down at his leg. “What’s the damage?”

“Nothing major. You’ll have to be on crutches for a while and do some physical therapy, but you will be fine,” Mac hurried to reassure him.

“Thanks to you,” Carlos said with a smile. “That pepper trick was one crazy thing.”

“Pepper trick?” Jack asked. Carlos looked at him, seeming to notice him standing there for the first time.

“Oh, hey Jack. Yeah, this lunatic decided to season my leg.”

“It helped to stop the bleeding,” Mac muttered, clearly not enjoying the teasing.

“And apparently it worked...in all seriousness though, thanks Mac,” Carlos said, his smiling fading into a more somber look.

“I was only returning a favor,” Mac said, never one to enjoy praise or gratitude.

“Building my family a house did that, this was above and beyond. And...are you okay?” Carlos said, looking over at Mac intently as he seemed to remember something. Mac stiffened in his chair and he glanced quickly at Jack.

“Yeah, of course. You’re the one with a gunshot wound,” Mac said. “And speaking of that, you should get some rest.” Mac stood up and started to move away from the bed, but Carlos reached out the hand that wasn’t attached to an I.V. and grabbed Mac’s wrist.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help when he was beating you...I wanted to...I just…” Carlos said. Every word was like a punch to Jack’s gut. He tried to catch Mac’s eye, but the kid was now pointedly avoiding looking at Jack.

“Stop, you had a gunshot wound to your leg,” Mac said. He shifted so he was facing Carlos and Jack could no longer see his face. “Besides, I could’ve taken him if I wanted to, but fighting back would’ve only made it worse.”

“M’kay…” Carlos’ energy was clearly fading fast and he seemed satisfied with Mac's explanation.

“Get some rest,” Mac said again. This time, when Mac stepped away, Carlos made no attempt to stop him. In fact, he appeared to already be on his way back to the land of sleep. 

Mac didn’t so much as glance at Jack as he walked past him and out the door. Jack followed him, not wanting their upcoming confrontation to wake Carlos. Jack quietly closed the door and turned around to find Mac leaning against the far wall, looking at Jack wearily.

“So when I asked you if you got more than just a punch…” Jack started, taking great effort to keep his voice quiet and even. He pushed down the anger that threatened to bubble over because he knew that yelling at Mac would not accomplish anything.

“It may have been slightly more than just a punch,” Mac responded, looking uncomfortable about his lie. Or maybe he was just uncomfortable about being caught in a lie, Jack wasn't entirely sure.

“From what Carlos said, it sounds like it was a lot more than just a punch. Mac, don’t you dare lie to me again. Carlos used the word ‘beating’, so you wanna try telling me what happened again?” Jack said, not fully succeeding this time in keeping the anger out of his voice.

“It really wasn’t anything worse than what we both get out in the field every day. Yes, there were a few punches and a few...kicks, but I’m fine really,” Mac protested. Jack’s stomach dropped when Mac mentioned the kicks. That would explain why the only physical evidence that he could see of the beating was on Mac’s cheek.

“Yes, but the difference is that in the field we are protecting ourselves and fighting back. Now, I get that you couldn’t because you would risk blowing your cover, but that means that you probably took more direct hits than you normally do,” Jack argued. He was struggling between wanting to physically shake some sense into the kid and gathering him into a giant hug. Fortunately, he didn’t have to decide since he knew either of those would most likely hurt Mac.

“It didn’t last that long. I’m fine,” Mac, as stubborn as ever, repeated.

“Okay, lift your hands above your head then,” Jack instructed.

“What?”

“You heard me. Just lift your arms up and I will drop it,” Jack said. Mac stared back at him, probably trying to figure out if he could do what Jack asked without wincing. After a few more moments, Mac finally gave a sigh of defeat.

“Don’t want to.”

“Uh-huh, that’s what I thought. So here’s what we are gonna do, we are going to get a doctor to check you out and then you are going to promise to never lie to me about an injury again,” Jack said. Mac paused again before answering, his gaze scanning Jack’s face to determine his seriousness.

“Okay,” Mac said with another sigh.

Jack found a doctor and quickly got Mac into an examination room. When the doctor came out and told Jack that Mac had some bruised ribs and a mild concussion, Jack was not at all surprised.

Mac had been right when he’d said that this was nothing he hadn’t experienced before. All injuries considered, these ones were pretty minor, but Mac still shouldn’t have hidden them from him.

Jack knew exactly how this conversation was going to go. They’d had the same conversation dozens of times before and Jack was sure they would have it dozens of times in the future. Jack knew that independence and selflessness were part of who Mac was as a person. He could only hope that someday that kid would get it into his head that he didn’t have to be so damn strong all the time. Jack would keep trying for as long as it took to convince Mac that he was the kind of family that you could rely on, no matter what.


End file.
